Framework

Service ID

Contact

Service scope

Service scope

Service constraints

Planned maintenance windows are identified in the service description. Emergency maintenance windows are identified in the service description. Customers must prove compliance with the access requirements of private networks. Customers are responsible for licencing any Oracle software utilsed.

System requirements

Customers will require a modern browser to access the service.

User support

User support

Email or online ticketing support

Yes, at extra cost

Support response times

Response times are based on the priority assigned to the incident:P1 - 15 minute response, 4 working hour resolution (6 hours if logged outside of working hours)P2 - 15 minute response, 6 working hour resolutionP3 - 30 minute response, 3 working day resolutionP4 - 60 minute response, 7 working day resolution

User can manage status and priority of support tickets

Yes

Online ticketing support accessibility

None or don’t know

Phone support

Yes

Phone support availability

24 hours, 7 days a week

Web chat support

No

Onsite support

Yes, at extra cost

Support levels

Support Levels are based on the priority assigned to the incident:P1 - 15 minute response, 4 working hour resolution (6 hours if logged outside of working hours)P2 - 15 minute response, 6 working hour resolutionP3 - 30 minute response, 3 working day resolutionP4 - 60 minute response, 7 working day resolution

Support available to third parties

No

Onboarding and offboarding

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started

We operate a Service Implementation process to ensure we take on the support and management of the cloud-based platform in a controlled manner. This encompasses:• Setup of monitoring, alerting and anti-virus utilising the MDS management toolset• Establishing the key customer service interfaces and information reporting framework• Providing access and interfaces to our Service Desk• Establishing maintenance and patching regimes and schedules• Ensuring the IaaS, PaaS or SaaS platform is fully documented and baselined• Understanding the security and assurance requirements• Formal acceptance by our Customer Service team

Service documentation

Yes

Documentation formats

HTML

ODF

PDF

Other

Other documentation formats

Video

Audio

Webinars/Webex

Presentations

End-of-contract data extraction

The customer has complete autonomy of how data is stored and managed within their virtual environment. Data can be extracted either from within the VM (for example, copying data over virtual networks), or the entire VM (for example, exporting as a VMDK or OVF). Assistance with this process can be provided by MDS and charged using our SFIA rates.

End-of-contract process

Our off-boarding process is focused on ensuring the controlled shutdown of our service and, where appropriate, facilitating the transition to an alternative provider. This encompasses:• Facilitating the removal of your data and content from the cloud platform• Securely, and permanently, deleting all data, accounts and access such that they cannot be recoveredWe can support the successful transfer of your services to another provider if requested. To support this we may:• Appoint an Exit Manager• Appoint a Project team for seamless handover to a new supplier or back to you to ensure service continuity• Develop an Exit plan with your Exit Manager to identify all tasks and activities, for example:• Transfer of all data to the new destination and provide backups as required• Secure removal process for all data, user security, software etc. • Acceptance and signoff of successful data and system transfer. This will include access by a nominated security cleared client representative or team to verify all data and systems have been successfully transferred and removedThe Exit team will be charged using our SFIA rates.

Using the service

Using the service

Web browser interface

Yes

Using the web interface

We provide a control panel allowing users to provision, manage and decommission various aspects of this service. It also allows users to interface with the UKCloud service management system including raising tickets and requests. The web interface also provides access to a comprehensive set of documentation and videos. Launch, manage and delete virtual network, compute and storage resources. Display network topology. Manage images including creation and recover of backups. Control access and security including key pairs, API access and floating IPs. Manage load balancers.

Web interface accessibility standard

None or don’t know

How the web interface is accessible

The web interface is accessible using the most common web browsers and is delivered over various public and private networks including the internet, PSN, N3/HSCN and Janet. The web interface is protected by standards-based encryption, two-factor authentication and optionally IP address restrictions. The web interface is entirely HTML5 and does not require any auxilary plug-ins, therefore the web interface is accessible by any modern day desktop or mobile internet browser able to support secure HTTPS connections.

Web interface accessibility testing

None

API

Yes

What users can and can't do using the API

You can use API calls to create, manage and monitor Service Requests and view information about the components of your environment. We provide native access to underlying APIs such as vCloud and OpenStack. These are compatible with tools such as Terraform and platforms such as AWS S3.

API automation tools

Ansible

Chef

OpenStack

SaltStack

Terraform

Puppet

Other

Other API automation tools

Jenkins

API documentation

Yes

API documentation formats

Open API (also known as Swagger)

HTML

ODF

PDF

Command line interface

Yes

Command line interface compatibility

Linux or Unix

Windows

MacOS

Using the command line interface

Customers can full manage their virtual infrastructure resources including compute, storage and networking, including management of virtual images, programmatically or manually via the CLI.

Scaling

Scaling

Scaling available

Yes

Scaling type

Automatic

Manual

Independence of resources

In order to guarantee that users are not affected by the demands from other users, we use resource reservations and shares such as internet bandwidth shaping. In addition, the capacity planning team ensure that usage in terms of all resources are constantly monitored and increased accordingly relating to user demand.

Usage notifications

No

Analytics

Analytics

Infrastructure or application metrics

Yes

Metrics types

CPU

Disk

Memory

Number of active instances

Reporting types

API access

Reports on request

Resellers

Resellers

Supplier type

Reseller providing extra features and support

Organisation whose services are being resold

UKCloud

Staff security

Staff security

Staff security clearance

Conforms to BS7858:2012

Government security clearance

Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations

Yes

Data storage and processing locations

United Kingdom

User control over data storage and processing locations

Yes

Datacentre security standards

Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)

Penetration testing frequency

At least every 6 months

Penetration testing approach

‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider

Protecting data at rest

Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0

Physical access control, complying with another standard

Other

Other data at rest protection approach

Customers are encouraged to protect their own data using encryption technologies where only they have the decryption key. In this way, our customers are assured that their data can never be accessed by a third party.

Data sanitisation process

Yes

Data sanitisation type

Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation

Deleted data can’t be directly accessed

Hardware containing data is completely destroyed

Equipment disposal approach

A third-party destruction service

Backup and recovery

Backup and recovery

Backup and recovery

Yes

What’s backed up

Virtual machines and associated data

Backup controls

Depending on the backup or replication service that the customer chooses, this can be done either via the API or the UKCloud portal

Datacentre setup

Multiple datacentres with disaster recovery

Scheduling backups

Users schedule backups through a web interface

Backup recovery

Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface

Data-in-transit protection

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks

Private network or public sector network

TLS (version 1.2 or above)

IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Bonded fibre optic connections

Data protection within supplier network

IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Other

Other protection within supplier network

We offer the choice of connecting: • Via the internet using additional encryption such as TLS 1.2 • IPSec VPN tunnels• Via private networks such as leased lines or MPLS• Via public sector networks such as PSN, N3, Janet

Availability and resilience

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability

99.95%

Approach to resilience

Our service is deployed across a number of sites, regions and zones. Each zone is designed to eliminate single points of failure (such as power, network and hardware). Customers are encouraged to ensure their solution spans multiple sites, regions or zones to ensure service continuity should a failure occur.

Outage reporting

All outages will be reported via the Service Status page and the notifications service within the UKCloud Portal. Outages are identified as Planned maintenance, Emergency maintenance, and platform issues. In addition, the designated Technical Account Manager will proactively contact customers as appropriate.

Identity and authentication

Identity and authentication

User authentication

2-factor authentication

Limited access network (for example PSN)

Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels

Customers have the option to raise a support request via telephone or email. UKCloud will always authenticate the identity of the user by validating known phone numbers and asking them for specific characters within their pre-agreed memorable word. The management interfaces are only available on the UKCloud network.

Access restriction testing frequency

At least every 6 months

Management access authentication

2-factor authentication

Devices users manage the service through

Dedicated device on a segregated network (providers own provision)

Dedicated device on a government network (for example PSN)

Dedicated device over multiple services or networks

Any device but through a bastion host (a bastion host is a server that provides access to a private network from an external network such as the internet)

Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information

Users contact the support team to get audit information

How long user audit data is stored for

Between 1 month and 6 months

Access to supplier activity audit information

Users contact the support team to get audit information

How long supplier audit data is stored for

Between 1 month and 6 months

How long system logs are stored for

Between 1 month and 6 months

Standards and certifications

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification

Yes

Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001

LRQA

ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date

09/12/2015

What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover

MDS' risk assessment process has highlighted that the following two areas of ISO27001 are out of scope:14.1.3 Information Systems: Protecting Application Services Transactions 14.2.7 Information Systems: Outsourced Development

We follow the policies and procedures laid down in ISO 27001:2013 standard. In particular, our Information Security Management System contains all of the policies that support our security management approach. Our Information Security Policy provides the highest level policy statements which is supported by a comprehensive Acceptable Use Policy which all staff must sign before being granted any system/Network access. Additional policies cover key areas including Security Incident Management, Management Review, Document Control, Data Protection, Access Control, Business Continuity, Encryption, Patch Management and Auditing.

As part of our Service Implementation Process we carry out a pre-handover security audit to ensure that we have met the required MDS Security standards as well as any specific customer security requirements which have been agreed.

All of the above is supported by an extensive internal and external (UKAS accredited) Audit programme which ensures that we maintain the high level of security standards laid down in our processes.

Operational security

Configuration and Change management processes are fully aligned to ITIL best practise and documented within our Information Security Management System.

New customer environments are deployed using our scripted deployment tools to ensure a consistent and reliable build. Configuration changes to these environments are closely managed throughout the project to ensure that configuration records are maintained.

All changes to customer environments require both MDS and customer approval. This ensures that customers are fully aware and agree to any work being implemented within their environment.

The MDS Change Advisory Board meets weekly although Emergency Changes can be processed at short notice.

Our vulnerability management processes are compliant with ISO27001:2013 and supported by a comprehensive Patch Management policy. We undergo regular vulnerability assessments and also continually monitor a number of recognised sources of new vulnerability and threat information as well as any known exploits for them.

Our Patch Management process includes the regular and timely application of patches to software whilst minimising the potential impact of problem updates through testing and evaluation.

MDS can implement a GPG-13 compliant Protective Monitoring solution through our relationship with Assuria. The Assuria Log Manager (ALM) application is a CESG CCTM accredited Forensic SIEM/Log Management Solution. ALM is cloud ready, Scalable, Flexible and provides analysis and real time alerting as well as full compliance reporting.

The ALM architecture allows the collection and management of almost any format and supports a wide range of log standards. Although ALM can work agentless, the installation of an ALM Agent (available for a wide range of platforms) enhances the service with automated log collection, rotation, digital signing and forwarding.

MDS’ Information Security Incident Management Policy fully complies with ISO27001:2013 and includes:• Potential or actual breaches of confidentiality of a company or supported customer information asset, or potential or actual breaches of confidentiality of a supporting asset• Potential or actual breaches of integrity of a company or supported customer information asset, or potential or actual breaches of integrity of a supporting asset• Potential or actual interruptions to the availability of a company or supported customer information asset

The Policy applies to all employees, contractors and third party users of MDS information systems, and other related infrastructure.

Separation between users

Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart

Yes

Who implements virtualisation

Supplier

Virtualisation technologies used

VMware

How shared infrastructure is kept separate

At the compute/storage layer, consumers are separated via robust hypervisor controls based on VMware vSphere technology. This solution has been previously been validated by the NCSC PGA and the implementation is regularly tested via regular PGA scoped independent IT Security Health Checks conducted by a CHECK service provider.